SEO Certification Modules

With the introduction of Google’s Hummingbird algorithm in 2013, traditional key-phrase research has become a subset of behavioural targeting in SEO. The process of identifying the search behaviours of your target audience now includes the need to define marketing personas and understand the true intentions behind their behaviours. Google calls this “semantic” search and it has significantly changed the way in which we now approach an SEO project.

A key part of researching semantic search behaviours is understanding the “language” of your targeted persona. When this language is known, key-phrase “clusters” can be identified which [ave the way for future content development that will drive the different techniques used in targeting short, medium and long tail search behaviours. This will allow you to align your implementation strategy to your researched behaviours and to position your website in a manner that is practical and which can build authority over time. [/two_third_last]

Covers the basics of SEO and ensures that your website is currently set-up to align to the search behaviours you have researched. Whils this module will focus primarily on key-phrase targeting, it is presented in the wider context of the new semantic search environment and will be revisited later in the programme to align page-level optimisation to persona-driven content. [/two_third_last]

There are several things you can do that are not immediately obvious which can significantly impact your website’s search performance. Understanding how Google’s (and Bing’s) Webmaster Tools interact with your website and how they can be used to improve your website’s search performance is the focus of this module.  [/two_third_last]

This module will help you to decide on the core structure of your website in such a way that it can be most easily indexed by the search engines and is a way that confers maximum authority of the more important content sections as they are defined. [/two_third_last]

Understanding the unique challenges and major differences between international SEO and Ireland-only SEO is critical if you are to acquire a search presence in the export markets you target. This module is an advanced module which focuses on the issues of geo-location and geo-targeting specific content to individual countries.[/two_third_last]

Whilst high quality, original content is a key component of the modern SEO paradigm, it is critical to understand how Google interpret’s high quality content and how it scores quality and originality both in basic textual content and in rich media such and video and other media types. It is alone insufficient to have good quality, original content on your website; you must “prove its authenticity” to Google before it is recognised as such.[/two_third_last]

Your SEO competition are the occupiers of screen real-estate on the search results pages for key-phrase search behaviours that define your target audience. They are not necessarily your traditional day-to-day competitors and how you compete with them will determine your ability to displace them.[/two_third_last]

Major recent innovations in Google Analytics has made it extremely powerful at presenting granular information that you can use to streamline your SEO initiative. Pre-defined downloadable dashboards and advanced segments are just part of the new, user-friendly Google Analytics initiative to make it accessible by all.[/two_third_last]

How to use outbound links to help Google draw relevance for your content and how to associate your content with other, credible, high-authority sources on the internet that will improve your search ranking.[/two_third_last]

An introduction to inbound link quality, link development and how authority is transferred in links. Google updates over the past few years have radically changed how it interprets your inbound links and this module will set the ground rules for future inbound link development.[/two_third_last]

Now that you understand the ground rules, this module will help you identify the best sources of quality inbound link candidates for your company. In many cases, due to teh labout intensity of inbound link development, this module will also cover the “link building brief” which you may provide to an outsourced service provider. [/two_third_last]

Google, Yahoo, Bing and many others have now adopted a common “markup language” which is used to provide more detailed information of the nature and type of content which your website may contain. Google in particular is finding exciting new ways to use this data from providing richer search results to ultimately fonding out more about you and sharing it across you many online footprints. [/two_third_last]

The ever evolving and merging Google Places, Maps, G+ and other Google services provide new opportunities for local businesses to increase their presence in the organic search results using a host of new capabilities that have only recently come into play. Google’s local search is particularly relevant to businesses that operate from a bricks and mortar premises such as retail and many professional services. [/two_third_last]

This module covers how Google combines the information it knows about you to create a process of authentication which it can use to impact the ranking of any content that you publish on the internet. [/two_third_last]